Rusty Ring

One lonely commandment: If you don't like it, don't be it. (Photo courtesy of Danh Đãnh and Unsplash.com .)

A lifetime sitting with the central tenet of Islam has led me to accept it. You must submit. Islam means submission in Arabic....

"Strictly speaking, every unenlightened practitioner is mixing their own convictions and belief systems with Buddhism. There is...

The theory is really simple. The only problem is that theory alone will not help us to be content with our practice. Although...

This graphic illustrates the grandfather paradox, a secular koan demonstrating the inability of the human mind to grasp reality. A...

Some months ago I had a refreshing conversation on Zen ethics with a fellow hermit on Mastodon. We're equally sceptical of quietis...

Enlightenment is the stated goal of Buddhism, possibly the only doctrine all denominations share, though variously defined. As ...

Though it's generally unknown to Western Buddhists, Russia is one of the formative homelands of our religion. Not only has Buddhis...

Long ago, in the first years of my Zen practice, I encountered a teaching that's remained in my mind through the intervening year...

"If you meet the Buddha in the road, kill him." This well-worn Chàn koan, attributed to Linji Yixuan, has the sting befi...

So I've been at it again – diving into the Ancestors and the movement that produced them. And once again I've come up with ...

I never get used to the fact that there's exactly one religion on this planet. Or humanity's eternal frantic protest that there...

This morning a brother in my Twitter sangha posted the following five paragraphs from the Pali canon ( Dutiyaassutavāsutta, SN 12.62 ). ...

"Whenever I'm about to do something, I think, 'Would an idiot do that?', and if they would, I do not do that thing....

"Don't try to use what you learn from Buddhism to be a Buddhist; use it to be a better whatever-you-already-are." His Ho...

This is Nicola White, my favourite mudlark. (Yes, I have a favourite mudlark. I also have other mudlarks, who, while not my favourite mud...

OK, hear me out: Equani-Mouse. (Interested parties can buy the wall decal from this Etsy store ; illustration from linked page.) 

There’s always a very inconsiderable minority of these non-joiners. [...] But you will find that insecure societies are the most in...

In 2015 I uploaded a post entitled Forgiveness . It's about forgiveness. Last year, after almost a decade of being roundly ignored...

As non-Vajrayana Western converts to Buddhism will tell you, we have a slightly awkward relationship with Tibet. Not that we have an...